The New York Mets were on a hot streak. They hired Buck Showalter, and then they started filling out the coaching staff with some well respected candidates.
They quickly landed Joey Cora as the third base coach. Showalter confidant Wayne Kirby will coach first. Then, the Mets pried Eric Chavez away from the New York Yankees to be the hitting coach.
And then, nothing.
The Mets are looking for a bench coach, and they’re coming up dry. Andy Stankewicz will remain as the head coach of Grand Canyon University.
The San Diego Padres denied the Mets request to speak to Ryan Flaherty. The San Francisco Giants blocked the Mets request to interview Andrew Bailey. Jeff Pickler removed his name from consideration.
Suddenly, this search is becoming reminiscent of the Mets GM search. It was then a reminder of the beginning of the Mets offseason when Noah Syndergaard shockingly left the organization to sign with the Los Angeles Angels. Things were bad.
Out of that would eventually emerge Starling Marte and Max Scherzer. With that, the Mets suddenly changed the narrative about the direction of the franchise. Suddenly, the same old Mets became legitimate World Series contenders. It happens that fast.
At this point, the Mets keep striking out on bench coaches. That’s fine. There are still a number of qualified candidates out there, and the Mets will eventually get their guy. If they don’t, well, they still have Marte and Scherzer, so in the end, they will be more than fine.